icebreaker
Americannoun
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Also called: iceboat. a vessel with a reinforced bow for breaking up the ice in bodies of water to keep channels open for navigation
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any tool or device for breaking ice into smaller pieces
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something intended to relieve mutual shyness at a gathering of strangers
Etymology
Origin of icebreaker
Explanation
An icebreaker can be an exercise or game that's meant to introduce people to each other in a fun, relaxed way. You know the first day of school, when you are asked to share your favorite stuffed animal — that's an icebreaker. If you invite party guests who've never met, you might play a game or tell some jokes as an icebreaker. A more formal icebreaker could involve games or songs that help people remember each other's names, for example. In this metaphor, the "ice" is the tension caused by being in an unfamiliar situation or meeting new people. The original icebreaker was literally that: a ship designed to break through ice in frozen channels at sea.
Vocabulary lists containing icebreaker
The Poet X
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Save Me a Seat
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"Dogs at Work"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In 2022, the researchers traveled aboard the now-decommissioned U.S. icebreaker, the Nathaniel B. Palmer, to the Dotson Ice Shelf in the Amundsen Sea of West Antarctica.
From Science Daily • Feb. 28, 2026
Lin leaves stacks of “conversation cards” featuring icebreaker questions on the tables at Coffee Confessionals, to help prompt connection between strangers or for those on first dates.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 26, 2026
In the Arctic, Brown worked with an icebreaker captain to navigate directly to the northernmost pole after drifting floes blocked his original plan to travel across the ice.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 23, 2026
Many are now looking to enhance their icebreaker fleet.
From Barron's • Feb. 3, 2026
My eyes were riveted to it, and to me it was like a battering-ram or the bows of an icebreaker or maybe a couple of high-explosive bombs.
From "Boy: Tales of a Childhood" by Roald Dahl
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
